This all began a few months back, thanks to a dear freshman friend of mine. Despite knowing her for only a few months, she’s very dear to me, and in some ways, I think of her as a little sister to me. Moving aside, what interested me about her was her constant referral and fascination with MBTI, sometimes astrology and personality tests. Whenever I did something, or the other freshman that made up our “group” she’d always say, ‘Oh, that was ISFJ of her,’ or, ‘That’s very F coded’, etc. She’d often come to me with different attempts at different personality tests, with other analyses, pointing out where she thought it was different and then looking up characters or people with the same MBTI. Furthermore, I’ve witnessed the Astrology and zodiac sign craze many times in my life, often being a highlight of who you were when people introduced themselves. That’s why I’ve decided to do my analysis of whether astrology and MBTI define who we are.
I think the obvious answer is no, it does not define you for who you are, yada yada yada, you are the one to set your path and represent who are same old same old. Okay, yeah, fine. But that doesn’t stop people from constantly using it to categorize themselves or others, now does it? People still have star signs in their bios, or you’ll see tweets of your favorite celebrity like “Oh, that’s such a Libra thing of them to do.” So, there clearly might be some defining characteristics that accurately pinpoint us.
For the astrology portion, I’m going focus more on Zodiac signs, compared to birth charts and Chinese zodiacs. Astrology is more commonly known compared to MBTI. You can find more posts about zodiac sign-coded books, musicians, or whatever compared to MBTI, and there’s nothing wrong with that. Zodiac signs are, first and foremost, “a part of astrology that connects the positions of celestial bodies to events on Earth”. Divided into 12 different signs- each named after a constellation the sun appears to pass through during the year- by the Babylonians, it is believed that “…one’s personality is determined by the zodiac sign that the Sun was in at one’s birth.” The Zodiacs, and corresponding birth months and days are listed below:
- Aries (Ram): March 21- April 19
- Taurus (Bull): April 20-May 20
- Gemini (Twins): May 21-June 21
- Cancer (Crab) : June 22- July 22
- Leo (Lion): July 23- August 22
- Virgo (Virgin): August 23- September 22
- Libra (Balance): September 23- October 23
- Scorpius (Scorpion): October 24- November 21
- Sagittarius (Archer) : November 22- December 21
- Capricornus (Goat): December 22- January 19
- Aquarius (Water Bearer): January 20-February 18
- Pisces (Fish): February 19-March 20
I’m an Aries, and for a very long time I often feel that my zodiac never truly defined me. I’d often read the readings and laugh all dry like and be like, yeah right. But the more I get into this rabbit hole spiral of reading, the more I can see myself in some of the personality traits listed.
Aries is the first zodiac sign often seen this way: the first. They are leaders, the first in line to get things done with their charm and charisma. Aries’s strengths include being ready to action and being direct when expressing themselves, letting differences air out quickly, moving on in life, and striving to overcome limiting beliefs and self-doubt. They are loyal, advocate, defend, and would face hard conversations on your behalf to help protect, encourage, and empower you. (Tenacious; confident and cheerful; ardent; and forthright) Weaknesses include being come across as blunt, harsh, or even cruel if they aren’t managing their stress levels well. They struggle with communication and benefit from listening to others but may not enjoy hearing recommendations or advice- preferring to learn from direct experience. (Impatient, melancholy, and moody- short-tempered; pugnacious) Honestly, every time I read a description of zodiac signs, I can’t help laughing at how they sound way too heroic and honor someone. Like I appreciate the definition, but why do I sound like some warrior coming to save your burning house? But then again, zodiacs were created in ancient times originally as a way to track the movement of the sun throughout the year-end, believing that the positions of celestial bodies held significant meaning and could influence people’s lives. And then, we had personality trait associations with each sign. I feel like astrology signs with their corresponding personality traits are listed based on common similarities between people born in those same ranges. Of course, it may vary depending on what period you were born in, more in between ranges letting you fall between two signs and possibly having traits of both.
In all honesty, zodiac signs are pretty dramatic and overhyped. At most, it wasn’t to determine or categorize personality traits but rather served as a basic calendar and keep track of time based on astronomy. With this, although there are several similarities many other Aries may share with me, I feel that we all have dissimilarities and traits that make us different from the standard norm. I doubt that there’s someone who would be the perfect definition of their star sign, and instead, they’d find a lot of similar characteristics that align with the listed zodiac ones.
MBTI (The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) is a self-report inventory that classifies people into 16 different personality types based on their preferences in 4 areas:
- Extraversion-Introversion (E-I): How you get your energy
- Sensing-Intuition (S-N): What information you prefer to gather and trust
- Thinking-Feeling (T-F): The process you prefer to use in making decisions
- Judging-Perceiving (J-P): How you deal with the world around you
My MBTI is an ENFJ, meaning I’m a protagonist.
One of the biggest things I’d like to point out for my results is how borderline most of them are. The borderline aspect says that I can exhibit a near-equal abalone between the two opposing specters of that trait, but in some cases, I tend to lean more one way than the other.
I think I’m more skeptical of MBTI than astrology because MBTI can change as you grow, or even if you have a different mindset, you put yourself fine when you take the test. Current events, different goals, and much more can impact what you put for your responses, making you choose differently each time. For the majority of I’ve taken this test, I’ve mostly gotten ENJF, but I have gotten INFJ, ISTJ, and briefly ESFJ due to a mistake. So, to say, is it very dependable? What’s funny about my fluctuating results is how, in the end, I came back to the same personality, except with just being an extravert in need. Still, I am a borderline extrovert. (I first got INFJ when I took it for the first time, and now ENFJ every time I do take it)
When I was younger, I was pretty shy. I didn’t like talking to new people or being the first to make a decision or take charge. I firmly resided with the introvert characteristic, more than anything. I think that’s why I strongly disagreed with my astrology sign when I was younger. I always felt that it was a false depiction of me: never being able to imagine myself as strong-willed or have a ‘fiery spirit’ as the experts say. But over time, as I grew older and to where I am now, I may agree with them more. I somehow became an extravert. I think that goes with having been put in different situations where I’ve needed to meet or talk to new people, make new friends, or make stronger connections with people I know. There’s a more prominent part of me that prefers to fill a silence when I’m with people, try to be funny, and slip in a joke or two to appeal to the masses. Furthermore, I think that with the amount of time and new connections and relationships I’ve built with people when entering high school, I’ve gotten to value others’s presence more than being by myself. Predominantly as an only child, where I will be by myself for most parts of the day, being around others or even interacting with them changes that.
For the second letter, I would say I lean both ways. Overall, I’ve been trained to see things as a whole; seeing all the different scenarios, results, and possibilities in road rot prevents falling short or unexpected when something new happens. (Game theory as it’s more suitably known) I’ve just been more attuned to that growing up, so I can see how I would lean more toward the N side with this. However, I would say I’m more of an S, focusing on solid facts and proper evidence when working rather than wildly relying on my gut instinct every time. It’s more of a need to have things set in stone, like a proper plan, so that I know what I want to accomplish at the end of the day. The two kinds blend in that sense since I’ll usually have a strategy or step-by-step sequence of what I want to do or how I want to do something but work differently.
Third letter: F. I have been in so many situations where my emotions get the best of me. I try not to, but I am a very emotional person. My feelings take hold of me more than I’d like to, leading me to say and do things I deeply regret. I can tell you there have been one too many conversations with people where they’ll say something- in all innocence and neutrality- and I’ll get petty and upset and act rude to them for no reason at all. I think this one’s also more borderline because I’m more known to be pretty calm or stable outside, but the more people talk to me, or I interact with someone they can see all of these things come out. Plus, as an only child, I am the one who is the tiebreaker, so I’ve grown to be more ‘diplomatic’ per se to avoid arguments or taking sides.
Final letter: J. This is the only one where I agree more with the MBTI. The defining characteristics of a J would be to take responsibilities seriously, be a finisher rather than a starter, stick to a set plan, and have comfort in schedules. Yes, yes, yes, and yes in every way possible. I’m not a big fan of staying off of a schedule or falling short of time. I do work in bursts of energy instead of consistent deviation as I’d like but prefer to work to get things done on time and finished.
I think the more accurate part of this is how the very first MBTI I got INFP changed by only one letter, and that was me becoming extraverted and an ENFP. There was a short part of my life where I got ISTJ and fully gaslit myself into believing I was like that. I’d argue that that isn’t a fully accurate depiction of me because I remember taking that test at a strange part of my life per se. I wasn’t in the best mindset due to stress and being overly sensitive to several things going on at the time, so I was very critical of myself in many ways. That led me to make harsher decisions myself when taking the test and getting a more skewed result. But I do remember that before I took the test again getting ISTJ, I did get ENFJ, so it is a matter of environmental factors and, I guess the type of person you grow to be over time.
One thing I will point out, however, is a thin line of similarity between my zodiac and MBTI. ENFJs are the protagonists- as they would say- taking charge and leading others. They, similar to Aries, form deep, authentic connections with others and may struggle with criticism or conflict. Well now. Both are slightly different in their ways, but both are similar. But really, I think another part of this, as I said with MBTI- is finding your way and essentially what environment you find yourself in. The more I read about my star sign and compared it to my MBTI, I can see how they both would become more ‘ independent’ of me as I get older.
I wanted to add a little bonus at the end with some responses from my friends about their MBTI and zodiacs to see if anyone felt the same or any differently.
- ENFP & Scorpio
- ENFP & Sagittarius
- ENTP & Aries
- ENTP & Aries
- ENTP & Capricorn
- INFP/INTP & Cancer
- INTP & Capricorn
- INFP & Sagittarius
- INFP & Capricorn
What I found most interesting was that people had similar MBTIs compared to their zodiac signs. Although there wasn’t one specifically prescribed MBTI per zodiac, a common defining characteristic connected them all. Likewise, all of them were N, and overall, for each sign, even if they didn’t have the same sign, they often were just slightly different in terms of extravertedness or introvertedness or had just one other difference in letters. Furthermore, those with the same MBTI but of additional star signs, or the same MBTI with just a difference of I and E have a lot of similar interests and characteristics as each other or would get along very well if they ever met. What interested me most was that both Aries were ENTPs. When you put both of them together, they are wildly diverse people. I couldn’t even imagine the two of them finding something similar to be fascinating. However, when I read more about the ENTP and compare it with the Aries’s characteristics, I can see they each hold the same features. Again, this leads me to think that many things depend on the environment or situation. For my two Aries, when put in a representative field or environment, you can see each ENTP and Aries’s defining qualities appear. Another thing I wanted to bring up was how people can have a mix of personality traits from their star sign if they were born between seasons. My friend who is a Scorpio, told me she didn’t feel like it fit her and does fall close to the range limits, so it could be a matter of her being more in tune with a different star sign that’s close to hers. However, when I compared her MBTI to my other ENFP friend, I could see both of them having similar characteristics and personalities.
It goes to say that MBTI and zodiacs aren’t the most reliable when portraying someone. Although, in my opinion, MBTI can be more indicative of someone because it shows more in-depth reasoning of who you are, I also believe that it could vary from person to person. Furthermore, several different factors could determine what your MBTI is. With this, MBTI still isn’t the best way to gauge one’s personality. Especially in cases like mine where your ranges can be borderline and possibly fluctuate between one side to the other.
So in the end, why do people rely on zodiac signs of MBTI? A big factor in that is wanting to find a more firm sense of identity. Often we may struggle to define ourselves and who we are, and instead use MBTI or astrology to define ourselves for us. Furthermore, there can be a lot of confusion and chaos trying to figure ourselves out and define who we are. With something that’s so clearly set in stone and described, it takes away that chaos. And really, it isn’t a big deal if one loves astrology or MBTI and uses it for everything. I think it’s just important to keep in mind that at the end of the day, regardless, you will always become the person you define yourself to be. And that’s all that matters.
